CIOs reveal their top cloud qualms

Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of chief information officers (CIOs) believe there are business risks associated with moving to the cloud that could damage their company's reputation and customer relations, according to research published today.

Of those questioned, 42 per cent of CIOs see the main risk as brand damage as a result of performance issues or security incidents, while 45 per cent view compromises in security as the biggest risk.

The findings come from information delivery platform provider Colt's annual CIO survey, which also revealed that only 16 per cent of European businesses have company-wide implementations of cloud computing to date.

However, 60 per cent of enterprises believe the cloud will be their most significant IT operating method by 2014.

The survey also revealed that 58 per cent of respondents saw ease of transition as the key challenge for cloud adoption, while quality assurance (55 per cent), cost justification (55 per cent) and regulation on security and control of customer data (54 per cent) were key concerns.

"Delivering first-class IT performance used to be a case of making sure your own in-house IT was running efficiently. With cloud, it is also about monitoring how various outside influences could affect the running of your IT. As such, it isn't surprising that quality assurance, performance and security are key areas of concern," said James Peel, product manager at IT monitoring firm Opsview.

Simon Walsh, executive vice president for Colt Enterprise Services, added: "This research confirms our existing cloud philosophy; that the hype surrounding cloud computing is now giving way to a more comprehensive market understanding across Europe.

"As these services are maturing, enterprises recognise the need to support an IT evolution rather than immediately re-design their IT to better align to cloud models."

The survey questioned more than 500 IT decision makers in companies in the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Benelux.